This is an analysis of the poem To Doctor John Donne that begins with:

Those grave old men—and women, too—
Who thronged St. Paul’s in your dear times,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: abab c dcd ef Xf gcg c cfcf haha b dbd ce ce ada d bgbg ieie c jcj
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,1,3,2,2,3,1,4,4,1,3,2,2,3,1,4,4,1,3,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 11111101 11110111 11011101 11010111 01011101 01111101 10011101 011101011 10111011 11110111 01110100 110111001 11111101 00110111 11110101 01010001 11011001 11101101 11111101 01110101 11011101 11111001 11110111 11000101 11110100 110100010 01011101 11110001 11111101 11010011 01010011 11110101 111100101 11110001 11011101 01011111 11110101 011100101 11011111 11110111 11111111 11011101 10010100 00111111 11010011 11001100 10010011 11110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 19
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 88
  • Average number of words per stanza: 17
  • Amount of lines: 57
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; they is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word some is repeated.

    The author used the same word some at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of To Doctor John Donne;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Francis Joseph Sherman